That appeared to be old man Steve's intent in giving Sam the shield, yes. Wait, if Captain America gave Sam his shield, doesn't that make Sam the new Captain America? Now they are vibranium bros and that's very cute.
We do know from the trailers that Sam Wilson has the intact vibranium Captain America shield that old man Steve gave him at the end of Endgame, and Bucky appears to have the shiny vibranium arm T'Challa gave him in Infinity War. Whether it is concurrent with, takes place before, or occurs after the events of WandaVision is currently unknown. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier takes place after Avengers: Endgame. When does TFATWS take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline? Sam and Bucky aren't in those two movies as much, but Cap's finale reappearance as old man Steve directly sets up The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Next up are Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the two-part end of the MCU's Infinity Saga. The next big plot point is in Captain America: Civil War, which is all about the lengths Cap goes to protect Bucky even in his brainwashed state. Sam shows up for a little bit in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but it's not as important for his character development.
Cap meets Sam in this one as well as, quite obviously, Bucky's brainwashed alias the Winter Soldier. Next is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This is Captain America's backstory and introduces Cap and Bucky's friendship. The first is Captain America: The First Avenger. I'm going to pretend this question is "which Marvel movies should I watch to get Sam and Bucky's complete stories." There are five movies you need to watch to understand The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Which Marvel movies should I watch to find out how they justify that? Yeah.but he was brainwashed! A mindless tool in the hands of the enemy! It really wasn't his fault. Bruce Banner's snap brought them back in time to fight alongside Captain America in the final battle against Thanos. He killed JFK but he's been cool ever since Shuri from Black Panther deprogrammed him and gave him a low stress job on a goat farm.īoth Sam and Bucky were victims of Thanos' snap, so they were busy being dust during the five-year time jump between Infinity War and Endgame. Bucky survived because Hydra took him captive, enhanced him with experiments, gave him a metal prosthetic arm, and brainwashed him to become the deadliest assassin of the 20th century. Cap thought he died in World War II, but surprise! He did not. The Winter Soldier is James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, Captain America's childhood best friend. He met and befriended Captain America after Cap came out of the ice, and now Sam flies around on metal wings looking badass. The Falcon is the Avengers codename for Sam Wilson, an ex–Air Force airman who performed pararescue missions with the EXO-7 Falcon winged harness.
If you hypothetically needed a refresh on the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I'd offer this hypothetical response: Say I've forgotten who The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are.